“One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one's happiness to express.”
Idiosyncrasy and Technique 1958
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Marianne Moore 59
American poet and writer 1887–1972Related quotes
“I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live.”
February 1954 The Diary of Anaïs Nin Vol. 5 (1947-1955), as quoted in Woman as Writer (1978) by Jeannette L. Webber and Joan Grumman, p. 38
Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
Context: Why one writes is a question I can answer easily, having so often asked it of myself. I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live. I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me — the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art.
in a letter to Frédéric Bazille from Etretat, December 1868; as cited in: Mary Tompkins Lewis (2007) Critical Readings in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. p. 83
1850 - 1870
Source: The End of the Affair
“It is better not to express what one means than to express what one does not mean.”
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)
“When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.”